This invention relates generally to equipment for handling liquid waste and more particularly concerns portable drive-through berms for containing environmentally hazardous liquids.
Drive-through berms are frequently used to provide secondary containment in areas where other forms of containment are not available, thereby preventing potential spills, leaks, and releases of environmentally hazardous liquids. Because the drive-through berms are portable, they can be deployed and moved to different locations as needed. For example, drive-through berms may be used in large parking lots or equipment storage yards where providing secondary containment around the entire area would be impractical and cost-prohibitive. As another example, vehicles may be temporarily placed on drive-through berms to prevent spills and leaks while the vehicles are serviced or maintained.
Drive-through berms are useful for maintenance, fueling, repair, parking, cargo loading and unloading, and other types of vehicle operations. However, the berms are often placed on surfaces that are uneven, have not been paved, or both. As a result, the berm's floor can be stretched by the weight of the vehicle and any liquid in the berm. This stretching may cause the floor to tear, compromising the integrity of the berm and releasing environmentally hazardous liquids into the environment. Rocks, gravel, twigs, and other debris beneath the berm, as well as small rocks and other materials trapped in the treads of the vehicle's tires, may also cause tears in the berm's floor and secondary containment failure. Prolonged wear, especially if the vehicle tires always contact the same areas of the floor, can also cause berm failure.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a flexible floor for a portable drive-through containment berm. It is also an object of this invention to provide a puncture-resistant floor for a portable drive-through containment berm.